ABOUT THIS ALBUM

Album Notes

Seattle-based trumpet/flugelhorn player and composer Jason Parker has been quietly making a name for himself as a first-call jazz, funk, R&B and rock musician.

It was a visit from Dizzy Gillespie and band to Jason's elementary school that started him on the path to becoming a musician. 8 year-old Jason worshipped at the feat of Diz for 30 minutes, and immediately asked his parents to buy him a trumpet. He played in jazz and rock bands all throughout high-school and college, but put down the horn after graduation to focus on a career in radio. Starting on the midnight-6am shift at his college radio station in Los Angeles, Jason worked his way through better and better shifts in LA, Eugene and Denver, finally working his way to Program Director of a major adult rockstation in Seattle. After winning the prestigious Gavin Award for A3 Major Market Program Diretor of the Year, Jason walked away from his promising career to turn his attention back to the horn.

Jason currently leads the Jason Parker Quartet, one of Seattle’s busiest jazz bands. He also plays with the improv-funk group Water Babies, Soul Provider Sensational Soul &Funk Review, Sarah Shannon, and the Jason Parker/Josh Rawlings duo, and occasionally sits in with Crooked Fingers, DeVotchKa, and many others.

Since moving to Seattle 12 years ago, Jason has played and recorded with local luminaries Byron Vannoy, Carrie Akre, Josh Rawlings, Sean Nelson, Brian Kirk, D'vonne Lewis, Nathan Spicer, Ty Bailie, Heather Duby, Evan Flory-Barnes, Darrius Willrich and Choklate, as well as national artists Tom Scott, Crooked Fingers and Sarah Shannon. His bands have shared stages with Elvis Costello, The Presidents of the UnitedStates of America, DeVotchKa, Little River Band, Greta Matassa, Micah P. Hinson and others, and have been featured at Bumbershoot, EMP's Jazz in January, Summer Concerts at Chateau Ste. Michelle, and The Triple Door. Jason has been asked to play for The
Seattle Supersonics, Starbucks, Microsoft, UW Medical Center, Gov. Gary Locke and Pike Place Market.

Jason is also an avid educator, teaching private trumpet lessons, classes in recording, performance and music theory, and is an instructor and board member for The Right Brain Center for the Arts.

J&J Music and Broken Time Records are proud to announce the release of “Jason Parker Quartet”, the debut CD from the Seattle-based Jason Parker Quartet. The new CD features four of trumpeter Jason Parker’s original compositions, Parker’s unique arrangement of a traditional Jewish prayer, one original by pianist Josh Rawlings and two not-so-standards from the books of Chet Baker and Blue Mitchell.

Even if you\'re listening to JPQ while washing dishes in the kitchen, this classic jazz quartet is so smooth, it\'ll transport you to a cozy chair in an upscale club, sipping a smooth, old bourbon and wearing that little smile you get when a warm and familiar memory comes to mind.

This is a classic trumpet quartet CD. I have listened to this CD multiple times, and it seems to be better with each listen. This is the type of jazz that I go to big name clubs to hear, so I am perplexed that this CD and Mr. Parker's quartet have not received more recognition. I hope the word gets out as this is an outstanding quartet with potential for tremendous success in the future.

Jason Parker has a raw, slightly distorted quality to the tonal spectrum of his trumpet playing. Though clearly distinguishable his use of this effect is always under control and is never overdone. It is certainly not the kind of tone quality a traditional trumpet player would strive for when performing a classical trumpet concerto where tonal perfection is considered to be extremely important. But the very imperfection of Jason Parker's tone quality is exactly the thing that makes you listen to his trumpet playing more than once. Though by no means unique to Jazz trumpet playing, this kind of carefully controlled distortion is often heard in the context of Jazz. Usually the various distortion techniques of a trumpet are deployed to achieve a more complex and differentiated vocabulary of musical expression. This advantage is often partially lost however, if distortion becomes too integrated into the general sound. If so it will always be audible as in the case of Jason Parker's trumpet playing. But what is perhaps lost in one sense is also gained in another. Being a typical stylistic component of Jason Parker's overall sound, every time you hear it from now on, you will wonder whether or not you are listening to Jason Parker.

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